Jeff Adair: An urban school celebrates achievement

Saturday

Mar 29, 2008 at 12:01 AMMar 29, 2008 at 10:03 AM

The auditorium at the high school was packed as parents walked in, most with big smiles on their faces. Many were still dressed in their work attire, a few in suits and ties. They carried a confident look, like "Yeah, I should be here."

Jeff Adair

The auditorium at the high school was packed as parents walked in, most with big smiles on their faces. Many were still dressed in their work attire, a few in suits and ties. They carried a confident look, like "Yeah, I should be here."

I had rushed home from our office, driving a bit fast the 25 miles to make it on time. I've done the same in the past for martial arts promotions, dance recitals, choir performances, and for other activities in which my children have participated.

The traditional high school garb, torn jeans, T-shirts, uncombed hair, and $120 sneakers were missing this evening. Two days after Easter, many of the teens wore new outfits purchased for the holiday or this specific occasion.

There would be clapping, and a holler or two from proud parents, but the overall tone was dignified.

There were speeches from dignitaries, including one by S. Paul Reville, the recently named Massachusetts Secretary of Education, whose step-daughter was being honored among the 17 seniors and 91 juniors.

"Yeah, they're so friggin smart ... not just my school, everywhere," my daughter would later tell me when asked why a quarter of the class made the exclusive group.

"But that's a good thing," I replied.

"No it's not because that's who I have to compete with to get into college."

The girl is too intense, too stressed about her GPA something, I frequently tell her, a couple years from now, when she's entering the job market, will not matter one iota.

"It's still a good thing," I repeated about the strive toward excellence among her peers.

The former chairman of the State Board of Education, Reville gave a word of encouragement from our governor, and pointed out in his speech that during his tenure on the board, he was the only member to serve who had a child in an urban school.

Too often, inner-city schools get a bum rap. They're viewed as problem places, full of social misfits. Words like drugs, fights and troublemakers are commonly used to describe them. The media perception is that there's more disciplining going on than teaching.

Some of it's true. Personally, I have a long list of complaints.

This particular school has had its name mentioned in the Telegram & Gazette, the local newspaper, one too many times for some incident on campus, or some trouble a student got involved in outside of school.

The school has 1,600 students and is simply too crowded. Constructed with cheap materials in the mid-'60s, the building should have been replaced a decade ago. And while it's diverse, 51 percent white, 24 percent Hispanic and 14 percent black, few minorities take AP classes, and few make the honor roll.

There were a couple of speeches from students at the program and the officials in the organization. Each lit a candle before heading to the podium to speak. Some of them were kind of long-winded, but one had to admire their hard work, writing the speech, and their poise in delivery.

Before the evening was over, I learned that the students value scholarship, service, leadership, character and citizenship. And I was truly surprised when I opened the program and saw the list of 70 or so organizations in the community that students had volunteered.

Appropriately, there was a quote in the program from our 30th president, Calvin Coolidge, that said, "No person was ever honored for what he received. Honor has been the reward for what he gave."

Going to the stage in alphabetical order, my daughter was the first junior to get her moment in the sun. I clapped loudly, "Go Jelisa." And then I sat, looking up when I heard a familiar name, my daughter's many friends, Christine, Diana, Olga, Victoria and others.

More than an hour and a half later the students gave the pledge:

"I pledge to uphold the high purposes of the National Honor Society to which I have been elected. I will be true to the principles for which it stands and I will maintain and encourage high standards of scholarship, service, leadership and character."

Of course, my wife and I beamed with pride. Good job, no, great job. Kudos to all Doherty Memorial students, for that matter, every student across America who gets a chance to make the same pledge.

Jeff Adair is a Daily News writer and editor. He can be reached at jadair@cnc.com.